Age of Adepts

A revenant banshee had instantly died, and the other two had been frightened away.

Alice immediately turned her attention towards the mummy elders and ordered the spider golem to assault the monsters.

The Infernal Tyrant and Snowlotus acted as two terrifying cannons, recklessly launching their ice and fire spells at every inch of space around them. In comparison, Amanda and Doris were not doing much. They exerted all their effort just to defend themselves. They followed closely behind the Tyrant and cautiously looked out for any sneak attacks from the shadesteel statues.

Sofia unleashed all her power and all the strength of a berserk witch with Alice’s reinforcement. She waved her staff fluidly and quickly struck the mummy elders all across their rotting bodies. The decayed flesh scattered everywhere.

Fighting a Second Grade enemy with the prowess of a First Grade wasn’t that odd of a situation!

Firstly, it was important not to categorize Second Grade magical creatures with Second Grade adepts.

A Second Grade adept had to endure unimaginable difficulties to reach their level. It was only with great wisdom and a massive library of knowledge that an adept could advance to Second Grade. A Second Grade adept like this was never unarmed.

They were powerful and always had magical equipment custom built for their purposes. Not to mention the many casting materials, a large number of magical gemstones, unending potions, scrolls, wands, alchemical tools, enhanced equipment, and a perfectly constructed system of occult knowledge and spells at their disposal.

The reason human adepts were able to obtain the absolute advantage in their battles against magical creatures, despite their poorer attributes, was thanks to these external tools and their effective means of combat.

What did the magical creatures have in their favor?

A million years ago, they were able to rely on their powerful bodies and peculiar innate talents to rule various worlds. However, the intelligent races of every plane had started to develop and grow stronger. They had learned from the magical creatures and gained a deep understanding of the monsters’ abilities and techniques.

What improvement did the magical creatures produce over this period of time?

Powerful individuals continued to fight with their strong bodies and talents, while the tribes of magical creatures stubbornly continued on their path of relying on their innate abilities! While some of the more intelligent beings in the Black Forest had also started to learn from the human adepts, they weren’t performing nearly enough of a change.

Their selfish natures and lack of a systematic means of passing down legacies were a massive obstacle that they could never overcome!

A Second Grade Mummy Elder needed a thousand, or even two thousand, years to evolve out of a horde of a million undead. Meanwhile, a Second Grade human adept only required four or five hundred years to come into existence. Moreover, this time was even shorter for the geniuses among the adepts.

Apart from the time difference required to advance, the difference in power between the adepts and the magical creatures also became even wider after they progressed to Second Grade.

Even if some undead had been lucky enough to evolve to Second Grade after ages of accumulation, their powers were still miles away from the level of Second Grade adepts. An unintelligent creature that relied on its base instincts was only good enough to be the prey and slave of human adepts.

Only highly intelligent magical creatures that had awakened self-consciousness were equals to the human adepts.

Sadly, the undead here weren’t intelligent monsters. Otherwise, they would never have been reduced to the ’watchdogs’ of an adept’s tower!

What did the mummy elders possess to fight back with against Sofia when she waved her thick Soul Equipment around with her berserk strength? Only their tough, steel-like bodies and their funeral shrouds.

They had nothing other than those!

Consequently, their Grade advantage was completely wiped away when the better equipped Alice joined the fight.

Their undead bodies had undergone multiple instances of strengthening and were stronger than steel. However, it was still weak when compared to the magical alloy that the adepts had painstakingly refined and improved over the years. Their funeral shrouds had impressive and wondrous effects that could boost any attribute according to the will of the mummies. Still, this ability appeared clumsy and inflexible when compared to the host of tricks up the adepts’ sleeves.

Furthermore, the Corpse Rot Poison and Hysteresis Halos they relied so much upon could do nothing to Sofia and Alice. The battle was utterly one-sided at this point.

Alice drove the spider golem forward and started to fight all five of the mummy elders at once. It deflected and held back all of their attacks. It didn’t matter how much the mummy elders punched the golem’s body, creating small indentations in the metal; the spider golem continued to fight and use its sharp limbs and frightening claws to slice the mummies.

The Fel Cannon also continuously fired at the mummy elders and bombarded their bodies with plasma bubbles. If it wasn’t for their sturdy bodies and the magical resistance from their funeral shrouds, Alice might have been able to slaughter Second Grade creatures once more successfully!

Even so, the mummy elders were still at a disadvantage when faced with a monstrous metallic golem that could split the ground apart. They could only retreat under the heavy blows of the two violent witches. They had none of their earlier bloodlust or recklessness.

However, an ill feeling gradually crept up the hearts of the three favored ones in the group as time passed.

Even though the undead beasts were strong, the mysterious person still had no intention of showing up to further help them. It seemed like she wanted to leave the undead here for them to slaughter. That meant she was planning a massive conspiracy behind their backs!

The three witches sensed the alarm bells going off from their fate senses.

”We can’t be bogged down by this trash! We need to find a way to break through!” Alice’s voice rang out from within the giant body of the spider golem.

”Hmph! Easy to say! Each one of these monsters is harder to kill than the next. Not to mention that they are all more powerful than us. Do you think every one of us has a metal can to hide inside and slaughter the monsters with?” A mummy had just punched Sofia in the back. She was naturally upset, and thus, her words were mean and hostile.

Of course, Sofia didn’t let it go that easily. She had also smashed that mummy on its shroud-covered face. Judging by the crack on impact, the mummy’s nose bone and skull were utterly shattered.

That said, the mummies were practically meat shields after all. Even with part of their body destroyed, they still managed to fight on with as much vigor as before. However, they did protect the soul fire in their skulls and the core in their hearts very well. They would even sacrifice all the flesh on their arms to protect these critical parts.

That was why Sofia, the Tyrant, and the spider golem were unable to kill even a single one of the mummy elders, despite working together.

On the other hand, they had no time to waste!

”This can’t drag on any longer!” The warnings from Alice’s heart was getting more and more urgent,”I’ll lead the charge. You lot remember to keep up.”

The Infernal Tyrant let out a massive roar and started to charge ahead with massive steps. At the same time, a ferocious Scarlet Firestorm erupted in the middle of the group of enemies.

The low-grade undead were helpless to resist this powerful spell. They scattered and tried to escape from the sea of flames. Meanwhile, the spider golem took this opportunity of the horde dispersing to start to propel its limbs. It knocked aside two of the mummy elders and continuously shot out beams from its compound eyes as it launched its unstoppable charge.

The two banshees that had fled earlier descended from above. However, a couple of purple plasma bubbles rapidly greeted them. If these revenant banshees had any long range abilities, they would have easily been able to detonate the bubbles before they reached them.

Sadly, the banshees had no such ability.

The banshees had already experienced this earlier. They were immediately frightened away by the attack and quickly hid in the ceiling, barely managing to avoid the plasma bubbles.

The spider golem Greem had spent six months on lived up to its name. It crashed through the horde of powerful monsters as if it trampled on the flat ground. It completely ignored all the scratches and blows directed at its metal shell. Whenever it swung one of its sharp limbs, some of the foolish undead would instantly split into two.

Alice ignored these low-grade undead and drove the spider golem onward as fast as it could go. Its metal limbs clanged as it smashed against the ground. Alice only fired the plasma bubbles to chase away the Second Grade undead when they advanced too close.

With the spider golem’s charge, the Infernal Tyrant’s dispersion of the crowd, Sofia’s violent blows, and Snowlotus’ large-scale Blizzards to slow the enemy down, the group of witches instantly sped up. They rushed through the army and knocked aside all the monsters in the way, heading straight for the magical facility in the distance.

The sudden charge of the three favored ones immediately exposed Amanda and Doris.

They had been able to obtain shelter by following alongside the Infernal Tyrant or the spider golem. However, now that their teammates had started to charge forward, the two of them were exposed at the rear of the formation. They became the most accessible pieces of meat to tear off from the group.

The three phantom shadesteel statues, the two revenant banshees wandering the walls, and the few mummy elders Alice had blown away; all of these monsters turned their attention towards the two of them and gradually surrounded them.

”Don’t leave us behind... bring us with you… ”

The two witches screamed as they used every ability they possessed to stumble after the party.

The entire group was like a chariot gone out of control, wildly smashing their way towards the target in the distance.